


A Glove Upon That Hand

by Marks



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Acting, Canon Compliant, Festivals, First Kiss, M/M, References to Shakespeare, TsukkiYama Month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 19:12:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12800505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marks/pseuds/Marks
Summary: "It's traditional! Men played all the roles back when Shakespeare was alive."OR: the one where Yamaguchi and Tsukishima regret not going to that cultural festival planning committee meeting.





	A Glove Upon That Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Tsukkiyama Month 2017's Day 11 prompt: Actors. I couldn't wrap my head around an actor AU and was like, oh, I'll just skip this prompt.
> 
> OR: the one where I write 4,000+ words of them playing Romeo and Juliet for a school cultural festival. SHRUG. Really got to exercise my Shakespeare geek and ex-drama kid muscles here. Additional details - Set in their third year at Karasuno, Tsukki's Romeo, Yamaguchi's Juliet, they're both nerds.
> 
> Comments and kudos always welcome!

Most of the kids in Yamaguchi's class were crowded around the door, checking out what they were each going to be doing for the cultural festival. Not Yamaguchi, though; he and Tsukishima had been assigned to behind-the-scenes stuff all through middle school and that tradition had carried on through their first two years of high school, too. It made sense, though; volleyball took up a lot of their free time and they were both tall, so any time something needed reaching or hanging, their classmates naturally looked toward them.

Besides, what else were they going to do? Act? Yamaguchi laughed while thinking of Tsukishima emoting on stage, just as he arrived as if on cue.

The crowd had mostly dispersed by then, heading to their seats, though a lot of the boys weirdly seemed to be grumbling or laughing more than Yamaguchi would have expected. He watched as Tsukishima stopped at the door and scanned the assignment paper. First he looked puzzled, then tense, then he glanced back at Yamaguchi and went red for some reason. Then, without a word, he walked to his desk and sat down.

"Tsukki, what did it say?" Yamaguchi asked, wondering what could have caused that reaction. "I didn't look yet."

Tsukishima pretended not to hear him, studiously staring down at his desk.

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes and got up to look for himself before the teacher came in. "You don't have your headphones on, you know," he said, rapping his knuckles against Tsukishima's desk as he went. 

The paper on the door declared _CLASS 3-4 PRESENTS: THE PLAYS OF FAMOUS ENGLISH PLAYWRIGHT, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE!_ which wasn't too out there as a festival theme. Yamaguchi would have liked a haunted house more, but what could he really do? But, well – all of the roles were played by the _guys_ in their class. Yamaguchi froze when he spotted his own name. Their class rep, Asawaka, bounced up to the list and grinned at him, her hands clasped behind her back. 

"It's traditional! Men played all the roles back when Shakespeare was alive," she chirped. Then her grin got just a little bit evil. "We had the class meeting to decide on the festival theme and not one boy showed up. Not a single one! You left the girls to do all the work. So we figured you were all okay with whatever."

Before this second, Yamaguchi thought he _was_ okay with whatever, which was the whole reason he hadn't gone to the meeting. He hadn't thought he'd be acting, but he could roll with that part of things. He'd even had speaking parts in elementary school skits. And of course he was fine with wearing a dress and playing a female role — how regressive did they think he was? What he wasn't fine with was playing Juliet to Tsukishima's Romeo. The thing was, he'd been nursing an embarrassing, monster crush for months now and he spent every day wishing his stupid feelings would just go away and they could go back to being just friends again. Yamaguchi had enough trouble hiding his feelings during a regular day, and now he was expected to do a love scene with his best friend in front of the whole school?

Yamaguchi looked over his shoulder to see what Tsukki was up to now. His head was raised again and he was looking at Yamaguchi. Their eyes locked for a terrifying, thrilling second before they both looked away again.

"You guys are always together," Asawaka pointed out, still cheerful. "It'll be easy for you to rehearse!"

*

"No," Asawaka said flatly at lunch, all vestiges of her morning cheer wiped away by Yamaguchi's pleading. And Tsukishima really only loomed successfully when it came to facing their volleyball rivals; when confronted with perky members of the student council, he just seemed sullen and hunched over. "You can't quit, and you can't switch roles with other groups. The festival's too soon to make any changes now. Next time, join the planning committee!"

"There isn't a next time," Yamaguchi pointed out. "We're graduating."

"All the more reason to enjoy your parts, then." Asawaka's usual happy face was back as she shoved their scripts at them. They both took them without argument, though Tsukishima had his pinched between two fingers, holding it far out from his body, like the script wanted to bite him. "It's just one scene," Asawaka said. "You'll be great!"

Then she bounced off to her next set of victims.

Yamaguchi flipped through the pages without looking at Tsukishima. It was a translation of the balcony scene, probably chosen because the girls thought the idea of Yamaguchi trying to squeeze onto a tiny balcony was funny. Besides his own embarrassment, he didn't really want to see Tsukishima sneering over the idea of acting out something romantic with him. Yamaguchi got it, he really did - neither of them was all that outgoing, but of the two of them, Yamaguchi had Tsukki beat by a lot. Even so, it would be hard to keep his personal feelings separated from Tsukishima's logical protests.

But then Tsukishima pushed his desk over, surprising Yamaguchi. "Don't forget it's lunch. You need to eat," Tsukishima said, opening his bento. 

Yamaguchi nodded and pulled out the sandwich he made himself that morning. "Thanks, Tsukki!"

"Yamaguchi, may I make a suggestion?"

"On my lunch?" Yamaguchi asked. 

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. "No," he said patiently. "On the scene."

"You mean, you don't want to just... wing it?"

"We could, if that's what you really want," Tsukishima said. Yamaguchi wished he didn't like it so much when Tsukki took him seriously. "But," Tsukishima continued, "what if we practiced and gave it our best effort? It would be unexpected."

Now, Yamaguchi knew Tsukishima loved being unexpected when it came to volleyball strategy. He'd been especially open with it this year since they were captain and vice-captain, but it hadn't really extended into other parts of their lives.

Well. At least not until now.

Tsukishima was looking at him very earnestly, waiting for Yamaguchi's answer. That look made Yamaguchi feel warm all over, even inside his shoes, and it took him a moment to find his voice. He was nodding even before he could croak out a "Sure, Tsukki!" and only then he wondered what, exactly, he'd agreed to.

*

"I feel ridiculous," Yamaguchi said, holding his arms stretched out at his sides. Kobayashi, another girl in their class who was in charge of costumes, gave him a sympathetic smile and attached a couple of pins to the fabric that was draped over him. 

"At least you don't have to have your inseam measured," she pointed out. "Dresses are nice that way."

Kobayashi took his chest and waist measurements, wrote them down on a clipboard, and then moved onto Tsukishima who _did_ have to have his inseam measured and didn't seem too thrilled about it. But she was professional and moved swiftly onto the next group of reluctant boys.

"Have you memorized your lines?" Tsukishima asked, and Yamaguchi winced.

"Kind of? They're not easy. Even translated, the language is tricky and weird."

Tsukishima nodded. "It's probably easier to practice with someone else," he said. "It's a conversation, after all. Plays are meant to be spoken out loud and not performed by yourself. Unless, it's a soliloquy, I guess." Yamaguchi found himself nodding along, not even questioning when Tsukishima became such an expert on acting. He guessed he was just that used to thinking Tsukki could do anything. In fact, he was still nodding along when Tsukishima casually added, "Do you want to run lines at my house later?"

Yamaguchi paused when he realized what he was agreeing to. Before, he thought his biggest fear was acting out a romantic scene with Tsukishima in front of the whole school. Now, it was acting out a romantic scene with Tsukishima alone in his room. But Tsukishima seemed so calm about the whole thing, like the memorization and wearing a costume parts were the troublesome things, not Yamaguchi's involvement in it. 

"Great," Tsukishima said, business-like. "I'll let my parents know you're coming over."

*

Dinner was normal, Yamaguchi almost forgetting the reason he came over as he got wrapped up in the comforting routine of hanging out at Tsukishima's house. It wasn't until afterward, when he followed Tsukishima to his room and got out the printout of their scene, that he realized how awkward he was feeling.

"Here, get up on my bed," Tsukishima said. "You can stand up here so it's more, you know, like a balcony."

Yamaguchi felt ridiculous, standing on Tsukishima's mattress in his socked feet and clutching a sweaty script in one hand. He was glad that Tsukishima didn't seem to be looking at him, instead focused on his own paper, but then Tsukishima put his script down again.

"I know my lines," he said. "But I was thinking about blocking."

"Blocking?" Yamaguchi said in a squeakier voice than normal. He cleared his throat. "You mean like –" He stretched his hands out over his head, the extra height of the bed making his fingertips touch Tsukishima's ceiling.

"Not that kind of blocking," Tsukishima replied, and the corner of his mouth twitched up, amused. "I need to decide where I'll be on the stage. You have it easy, since you're pretty much stuck in one place the whole time."

Yamaguchi didn't know if standing on top of some student-built balcony in a dress while acting out a romantic scene with his unrequited gay crush/best friend really counted as 'easy' but he obviously wasn't about to admit that to Tsukishima.

Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi up on the bed, then over to the far end of his room and back. He started saying, "I think I'll..." but then he trailed off and shook his head. "Let's just start the scene."

The first part was Tsukishima's. He started out as far as he could from Yamaguchi while still remaining in the room. Yamaguchi snickered a little when Tsukki broke character to mutter about how killing the envious moon was a little harsh, but other than that, Tsukishima was – well, he was really believable. His voice was strong but soft as he projected the lines, and when he talked about wishing he were the glove on Juliet's hand, Yamaguchi found himself putting his hand up to his own face. In fact, it took him a moment to realize the room had gone quiet and he was missing a line.

"It's two words, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima said.

"Sorry, Tsukki!" He rustled his papers and managed to sigh, "'Ay me!'" with his hand still on his face. Tsukishima stared for a moment, until Yamaguchi grew self-conscious. "Was that bad?"

Tsukishima shook his head. "No –" He cleared his throat. "It was fine."

They kept going with the scene, Yamaguchi watching closely as Tsukishima moved toward the bed during Yamaguchi's own stumbled speech, Juliet wondering why Romeo had to be a Montague. By the time Yamaguchi was imploring that Tsukishima not swear by the inconstant moon, Tsukishima was standing right under Yamaguchi on the floor. Yamaguchi told Tsukishima to swear by his gracious self instead, staring down at him as Tsukishima stared right back.

"You're not looking at your script anymore," Tsukishima said.

Sure enough, Yamaguchi's pages were down by his side now, he'd been so preoccupied by watching Tsukki.

"I don't know what you were so worried about," murmured Tsukishima. "You're doing just fine."

Yamaguchi's heart thumped. "Thanks," he managed. "You, too."

Tsukishima tilted his head to one side. "Keep going?"

"Yeah," Yamaguchi said roughly.

"'If my heart's dear love,'" Tsukishima continued, picking up right where they left off, and Yamaguchi realized he knew his next part, letting the words tumble from his lips. He let his script flutter down onto Tsukishima's bed, just as Tsukishima climbed up with him and asked, "'Wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?'"

"Um," Yamaguchi said.

"Of course I'll have to test the structural integrity," Tsukishima said, himself again, "but I thought I'd climb up the balcony at this point. It'll be visually striking and a shock to the audience."

It certainly had shocked Yamaguchi. They were standing near enough that their socked toes were touching. This close, he could probably count Tsukishima's eyelashes, if he were so inclined.

"Bad idea?" Tsukishima asked. His shoulders drooped, just a little. Someone not as used to observing him probably would have missed it.

Yamaguchi shook his head. "It's good," he assured him. "Your ideas are always good, Tsukki."

"Not always."

"Well, this one is," Yamaguchi said firmly. His hand bumped up against Tsukishima's, pretending like it wasn't on purpose. "Come on, let's keep going."

Honestly, Yamaguchi had a little trouble catching his breath once they did. Tsukishima's commitment to the scene didn't diminish as he recited lines about love's faithful vow, and as Yamaguchi began talking about infinite love, Tsukishima's rapt face moved closer and closer to his, seeming like he really _was_ Romeo, overwhelmed by love. And Yamaguchi couldn't help it, right at the pause when the nurse is meant to call from off-stage and Juliet has to leave for a bit, Yamaguchi really understood Juliet's reluctance. It just seemed natural to lean in and press their lips together.

So Yamaguchi Tadashi got his first kiss while rehearsing a love scene for a dumb cultural festival while standing on top of a bed and grabbing two handfuls of his crush's shirt. 

Tsukishima was wide-eyed and silent when Yamaguchi pulled away, and it took him a moment to say, "I thought if my head was close enough to yours, it would look as though we were kissing to the audience."

"Oh my god." Yamaguchi was mortified by what he'd just done. He frantically patted his back pocket, pulling out his phone and looking at the screen. "Ah! My mom just texted and I have to get home," he lied, practically leaping off the bed and letting out a funny little laugh as he gathered up his things. "Wow, crazy timing! See you at school tomorrow."

Then Yamaguchi darted out of Tsukishima's room, running out the front door while still pulling on his shoes. The sound of his heartbeat rushed through his ears and he didn't even hear Tsukishima call, "Yamaguchi!" behind him as he left.

*

Avoiding his best friend who shared club activities and a classroom with him was pretty difficult, especially when they also walked to school together most mornings. But Yamaguchi skipped morning volleyball practice, even though he never skipped practice, and when his phone started blowing up, he only replied to Hinata and told him he'd overslept. He slipped into his desk just as the starting chime went off and he refused to turn his head, even though the back of his neck kept prickling like someone was watching him.

At lunch, he darted out of the room so fast that he ran into two people in the hallway on his way to Hinata's classroom, though Hinata seemed bewildered when Yamaguchi held up his lunch and asked if he wanted to eat outside with him.

"It's cold and rainy," Hinata said. 

"Okay, then let's eat in the volleyball gym!" Yamaguchi said, unable to completely keep the hysterical edge out of his voice. They'd never done that before, so Hinata was going to know something was up. "There won't be classes there during lunch and I have keys."

Sure enough, Hinata narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Where's Tsukishima?"

"After we eat, I'll let you try receiving my serves as much as you want," Yamaguchi said instead of answering.

Hinata's face lit up. "Okay!" he said, and Yamaguchi practically dragged him out of his classroom door before Tsukishima worked out where he went and maybe came after him. He also tamped down any feeling that said that he _wanted_ Tsukishima to come after him.

Yamaguchi tried to act normally at lunch. Eating in the gym was kind of nice, even with the vague smell of sweaty feet that always sort of lingered there. But Yamaguchi was distracted and distant, and Hinata picked up on that easily enough.

"What's up with you?" asked Hinata, shoving the last of his lunch into his mouth. It was pretty impressive how quickly he ate and how much he could fit in his mouth at once. 

Yamaguchi laughed nervously. "What do you mean?"

Hinata took a moment to reply, either thinking or trying to chew and swallow his entire stash for winter at once. "I mean you're alone –"

"I'm alone sometimes!" Yamaguchi protested.

"Yeah, but you also dragged me out of my classroom, aren't really eating, and you seem to be hiding out like you're in trouble with some gangsters." Hinata's eyes went wide. "You aren't in trouble with gangsters, are you? Did they threaten to break Tsukishima's kneecaps?" He leaned in and grabbed Yamaguchi by his arms. "Don't let them, Yamaguchi, at least not until after volleyball season is over. Then it's fine!"

"Your head must be an interesting place," Yamaguchi said, after staring at Hinata for a moment.

"Thanks!" said Hinata happily.

The thing was Hinata had accidentally said something revealing about Yamaguchi. After thinking Yamaguchi was in trouble, he'd assumed someone had threatened Tsukishima, knowing that would be an even more effective threat than threatening Yamaguchi himself. And Hinata had a point, even if he hadn't been trying to make one.

Yamaguchi screwed his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and blurted, "I kissed Tsukki yesterday while we were practicing our Shakespeare scene for the cultural festival and I don't know how to deal with that so I'm avoiding him even though he didn't do anything wrong or say anything terrible and also I like him a lot."

Hinata didn't say anything for a long enough time that Yamaguchi managed to open one eye again and peer at him expectantly. Then, he let out a long breath and said, "Wow, I'm sure glad my class is just doing a haunted house."

"Hinata!" Yamaguchi said, then started laughing. It felt good and he felt himself relaxing a little. "Anyway, yeah, no one's breaking Tsukki's kneecaps. Which, by the way, wouldn't be fine even if volleyball was over."

Hinata shrugged. "If you say so," he said doubtfully. "But Yamaguchi, I know Tsukishima's not the easiest person in the world to talk to, but he listens to you." He tilted his head. "He _always_ listens to you, even when you've convinced yourself he won't. So maybe you should just, you know, talk to him. It'll probably be okay."

Yamaguchi let out a shaky breath. "I guess you're right," he said. "And I guess I already knew that." He climbed to his feet and threw out his lunch trash. "Now it's time to make you miss every serve."

Hinata leapt up and made a determined fist. "Like hell I will!"

*

Just as lunch was about to end, Yamaguchi took a deep breath and walked inside his classroom. Tsukishima was there and when Yamaguchi walked up to his desk, he looked up with the same open, vulnerable expression he'd worn yesterday when he was pretending to be Romeo. Maybe, just maybe, that meant Tsukishima wasn't as good an actor as Yamaguchi thought. 

"We should talk," Yamaguchi said. 

Tsukishima nodded. "After school, right after our dress rehearsal?" he suggested.

Dress rehearsal. Oh right.

*

"We're going to drape two curtains over this part so you can't see it," Misaki said, grabbing onto the frame of the balcony the girls had built. It looked like a wooden ladder, sort of, and it was big enough that the school was letting them keep it on the stage from now until the end of the festival. Misaki absentmindedly twirled a hammer in her other hand. "And you just need to walk up the steps in the back to look like you're on a real balcony. It's a real neat piece of stagecraft, if you ask me."

Yamaguchi hadn't. He was staring up at the new structure and suppressing the urge to gulp. It wasn't like he wanted to offend anyone, but they'd built this thing awfully fast and it was awfully high up, way higher than Tsukishima's bed. The thought of Tsukki's bed made heat flood his cheeks, and he needed to change the subject, fast.

"Do you think it could support another person?" asked Yamaguchi, thinking of Tsukki climbing up.

"Probably!" Misaki said cheerfully. "Maybe even a few people! And even if it didn't, it's not like you'd die."

Yamaguchi pressed his lips together. "That's very reassuring."

Misaki let go of the balcony and slapped Yamaguchi on the back. At least she hadn't used the hand with the hammer, he thought as he stumbled forward a couple of steps. "Thanks, Yamaguchi-kun," she said. "Now get to wardrobe. They're already waiting for you there."

Kobayashi and her assistant, Sato, really were waiting for him, along with all of the guys playing women's parts. Yamaguchi didn't know how they'd done it, but they had wigs and makeup and costumes for all of them.

"We borrowed, begged, and stole. We also sewed a little," Kobayashi told him, doing a final fitting on Yamaguchi's dress. It was pale blue and the waist was high up; he didn't know if that counted as a waist anymore. It was kind of like a fancy nightgown. Once Sato finished his makeup and adjusted his long wig, topping it all off with some weird crown of flowers, the guy playing Lady Macbeth wolf-whistled at him.

Kobayashi walked over and tugged on Lady Macbeth's ear. "Don't be jealous because Yamaguchi-kun is prettier than you," she said, and added a pair of gloves to Yamaguchi's costume. He felt himself blushing at her compliment, which was really freaking ridiculous of him. Then, Kobayashi looked at her watch. "You've got about ten minutes before you meet your Romeo."

Yamaguchi gulped.

*

The first step leading up to the balcony creaked as Yamaguchi hiked up his dress and started climbing, but nothing happened once he reached the top. There were a bunch of lights on him and he squinted up, shading his eyes as his heart began to race. He heard Asawaka call to lower the lights a little and then she asked him if he was ready to start.

Yamaguchi nodded and took a deep breath.

"Lights, camera, action!" Asawaka yelled, and a couple of people in the audience snickered and whispered, "Camera?"

Then the lights dimmed and Yamaguchi's eyes finally adjusted. Tsukishima walked onto the small stage from the wings and started his first speech. Since Juliet wasn't supposed to know where Romeo was at that point, Yamaguchi tried not to stare down at him, but it was hard not to. If Kobayashi had stolen what Tsukishima was wearing, then she was a very skilled thief because it was made for him. He was dressed all in black with white brocade running down the front of his jacket, the dark color setting off his light hair. He even made breeches work, which seemed unfair somehow. 

Yamaguchi somehow snapped out of it when he heard Tsukishima – Romeo – wish to be Juliet's glove.

"'Ay me!'" Yamaguchi said, sighing as he leaned over the balcony and propped his face up on his hand. He looked down again, finding Tsukishima turned toward him and staring up. Tsukishima seemed at a loss for words when their eyes met, but maybe it was just acting because he picked up his lines again right away.

Then they were off and running. 

Yamaguchi could have heard a pin drop, everyone watching was so quiet, though there were a few gasps when Tsukki started climbing up the front of the balcony's frame. When Tsukishima leaned close enough that Yamaguchi's face was blocked from the audience, a murmur rippled through the crowd. Somehow, Yamaguchi managed not to kiss Tsukishima this time, though it was pretty difficult after Tsukki whispered, "I like your costume," right before Yamaguchi ducked down to indicate Juliet had gone inside for a bit.

They made it through the whole scene and, honestly, Yamaguchi thought they did pretty well. But after Tsukishima had said his last line, everyone watching was eerily silent. Yamaguchi came back downstairs and nervously peered around the balcony, which is when his class burst into applause. He overheard one of the girls saying, "I _told_ you they were the right choice! I told you!" and another replying, "Yeah, fine, I get it now."

Asawaka hopped up on stage and shook both of their hands with a surprisingly strong grip. Yamaguchi caught Tsukki shaking his hand out behind his back. "Good work!" she said and then she got a crafty glint in her eyes. "We might be able to sell tickets to this."

"It's a free cultural festival," Tsukishima reminded her.

"Sure, Tsukishima-kun," Asawaka said, waving her hand casually. "Whatever you say."

*

Tsukishima was waiting outside for Yamaguchi after he'd changed back into his uniform.

"You're slow," Tsukishima said.

"Makeup is annoying to take off." Yamaguchi rubbed at his eye; he was pretty sure he hadn't gotten all of it, even though he scrubbed pretty hard. He'd have to ask Kobayashi what she recommended tomorrow.

"At least you don't have to wear tights," said Tsukishima. "I tripped over my own feet trying to get them off."

Yamaguchi laughed. "You're so cool, Tsukki."

"So." Tsukishima started fiddling with the strap on his bag, staring up at the sky as they walked, and the atmosphere around them seemed to change. "Do you still want to talk?"

Yamaguchi nodded. "Let's go somewhere first."

Somewhere turned out to be the park where Tsukishima had first saved him all those years ago. Yamaguchi didn't really think of it as Savior Park or anything – it was just the park closest to both of their houses – but every time something significant happened with Tsukishima, he was a little kid being bullied again, admiring the most amazing person he'd ever met. And kissing Tsukishima definitely counted as significant.

They sat down on a bench together. Yamaguchi rubbed his legs anxiously, trying to work up his nerve. He knew he had to say something – an apology, a confession, hell, maybe even a joke. Anything that wasn't this endless silence stretching on into eternity.

Yamaguchi looked over, took a deep breath, and opened his mouth.

"I'm so sorry, Yamaguchi," Tsukishima interrupted, before he could even say anything.

"Tsukki?"

Tsukishima held up one hand. "Please let me finish. I shouldn't have done that without asking you first. I just got carried away with the scene and let my personal feelings get in the way." He paused, making a frustrated sound. "I've been so careful and now I've messed it all up."

Yamaguchi stared at him for a moment. "What are you talking about?"

"You're going to make me say it?" Tsukishima said miserably. The corners of his mouth were turned down.

"Say _what_?"

"That I'm sorry for kissing you!" Tsukishima burst out. "It was an accident."

Yamaguchi's face at that moment must have been something, if it matched even fifty-percent of the feelings he was having on the inside. Processing everything that Tsukki was saying made his confusion melt into something more like giddy hope. Because Yamaguchi kissed Tsukishima, and Tsukishima thought he'd kissed Yamaguchi.

Which meant they really kissed each other.

Yamaguchi started laughing, something that started out with his shoulders shaking and led to him cracking up so loudly that his stomach started to hurt. Tsukishima was staring at him with huge eyes, some mixture of gloom and horror, which is when Yamaguchi let his hysterical laughter taper off into a smile. 

"Tsukki," he said, slipping his hand into Tsukishima's and squeezing, "I didn't run away because I was mad. I ran away because I kissed you and thought _you'd_ be mad."

Yamaguchi watched as Tsukishima replayed last night in his head, figuring out exactly where the misunderstanding happened. "Oh wow," he said eventually. "What a comedy of errors." Then, he smiled.

"Comedies have happy endings, right?" Yamaguchi asked, grinning back.

Tsukishima nodded, then leaned over and pressed his warm palm against Yamaguchi's cheek.

 _Ay, me_ , Yamaguchi thought, just before their lips met.

*

Class 3-4's Traditional Shakespeare was the hit of the cultural festival. Afterward, Hinata told Yamaguchi that their skits were better than some dumb haunted house, Yachi said their scene was "soft-spicy," whatever that meant, and even Kageyama said he mostly understood what was happening.

"But," Kageyama added, "I kind of wanted Tsukishima to fall."

"Not during volleyball season!" Hinata scolded.

Yamaguchi tried telling them that wouldn't have been okay even if it wasn't volleyball season, but Tsukishima was too busy dragging him away for them to hear him.

"Tsukki, I'm still in costume," Yamaguchi protested weakly.

Tsukishima's glasses caught the glare of the dying afternoon sunlight. "I know," he said in a low voice that sent a shiver down Yamaguchi's spine. Tsukishima waved to their friends one last time. "Parting is such sweet sorrow," he called over his shoulder.

Yamaguchi had a feeling he didn't mean that.


End file.
